Noam Dar has returned to action in WWE on the April 22, 2025 edition of NXT in Las Vegas and is already back to his winning ways, dethroning Lexis King to become the new NXT Heritage Cup champion out of nowhere.
Let's break down everything leading up to this random occurrence, what happened, and some thoughts about where to go from here.
How We Got Here:
The Scottish Supernova has been out of action for the past year, last wrestling in a winning effort over Dijak on the April 16, 2024 episode of NXT. Dar suffered a leg injury that put him on the shelf and had some massive consequences for his faction, The Meta-Four, as Oro Mensah temporarily did things on his own before moving down a notch to be part of the WWE EVOLVE roster, while The Meta-Girls (Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson) haven't referenced being in a partnership with either of them for months.
When it comes to Lexis King and why this title was defended tonight in the first place, that came about as a byproduct of King's interactions with magicians Penn & Teller. After Penn Jillette had made the NXT Heritage Cup disappear and replaced it with Teller, King was forced to admit that magic is real and to agree to defend the trophy on tonight's NXT against a mystery opponent.
Match Details:
King interrupted a promo Ricky Saints was cutting in the ring and tried to position himself in line for a shot at the North American Championship, even suggesting he'll put the Heritage Cup on the line in a title-for-title situation if Saints agreed. Saints was down for next week, but pointed out that King was already set to defend his title first, so if he were to have retained, then they could have that match.
Dar's return was out of nowhere, and he proceeded to prove himself the Superstar that this championship revolves around by winning it for a record fourth time, having previously held the title not only for a previous record three times (note: Charlie Dempsey is the only other person to hold it even twice), but he'll be adding time to his longest combined days (790 true, 739 recognized) and his multiple longest single reign dates (341/292, 260/258, and 189 being the top three)
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
It'll be interesting to see if WWE reverts the way this title is defended back to its original British Rounds Rules concept. When King won the cup, he threw that concept out the window and it has been defended as a normal one-fall championship ever since.
If WWE does go back, then that will mean this was just a gimmick for King. If not, it means WWE decided to forego the rules in general and are just moving on from it.
For my personal tastes, I'm glad to see Dar back, but I think someone else should have this championship, or that it would have been better to just unify it with the North American title like King was trying to do with Saints. I'd rather someone else be holding this title than Dar, as we've seen what he can do with it for the bulk of the time this has been around, and it's nice to see other people get some opportunity. But it's still worth giving him praise, and it's cool that he's able to compete again.
Since there was a segment later in the show where Ethan Page distracted Ricky Saints so Lexis King could plow into him, blaming him for losing the title, this may indicate Page could be the one to take the cup from Dar, as he's the one who put Dar on the injured list in the first place.
What do you think about Noam Dar's return and this title change? Drop your reactions, thoughts, and predictions for the future in the comments below!